


Knick-Knacks

by Moonrose91



Category: Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: #coulsonlives, ....I usually succeed, Because I try to be nice to Clint, I think I used the right 'then' there, I was nice to Clint, Ignoring certain things, Just work with me on that, Knick-Knacks, M/M, Sitwell's here to open up the story telling, Sort-of, a little angst for Phil, fluff for Clint, mentions torture by name of saying 'tortured' but no description of what happened, never said I had to be nice to Phil, that was probably a slight spoiler, two parter with Phil POV first then Clint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-14
Updated: 2012-08-14
Packaged: 2017-11-12 03:14:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/486041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonrose91/pseuds/Moonrose91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil has a desk drawer dedicated to the knick-knacks Clint has given to him over the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Phil's POV

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [dome_epais](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dome_epais/pseuds/dome_epais) in the [BeNiceToBarton](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/BeNiceToBarton) collection. 



Behind a door in SHIELD HQ is a desk that belongs to on Agent Phillip J. Coulson.

However, that desk isn't going to belong to him for long.

Because Fury, in all of his wisdom, decided that instead of _reducing_  the stress in Phil's life, he was going to be _adding_  to it, by making him move into the Avengers' Tower. (The doctors had already properly made Fury very sorry for adding to Phil's stress levels, but that is neither here nor there, in the grand scheme.)

Most of the things that Phil is so attatched to (the office chair, the desk, the computer and filing cabinets and even the stupid flowers that Phil had been against having because _they would die_ , constantly, if they were in Phil's office) were things he couldn't take with him. He had to leave them behind for the next poor soul who got tricked into this job.

Not that Phil had been tricked. No, he was the exception.

He got strong-armed into the position by Fury and pretended that it had all been his idea.

And then proceeded to make Fury's life a living hell for the first year by doing _exact and by the book_  reports.

...Okay, he never really stopped, because seeing Fury's temple twitch whenever he was furious (pun intended), and the exacting details, along with being hounded for them and having _every agent who ever got within ten yards_  of Phil doing the exact same thing always had the temple twitching in a way that made Phil very smug.

Smarmy bastard, taking him off of field duty so he could babysit.

He moved to start collecting the Secret Stash of Secret Sheets (Clint's words, not his), when Sitwell walked in. "Director Fury has ordered me to make sure that you get everything out, in case you try to insure you can sneak back and leave the office open for yourself with the excuse of 'I forgot something'," Sitwell greeted and Phil just gives him Bland Smile #8 (again, Clint's words, not his, but he's never minded Phil borrowing them), which, apparently means, 'I am not angry with you, I am just merely imagining what it would look like if I decided to do an impromptu surgury on the Director without anesthesia'.

Considering that was usually what Phil was considering, he believed that his archer was psychic, despite the man's protests.

"Of course. I am sorry you were pulled from your duties for this, Agent Sitwell," Phil responded and began to use the boxes to pack up all of the Avengers' files.

Including Clint's and Tasha's from even before they were Avengers.

There was too much in there that he wouldn't allow any other agent to see, and with the Avengers being the only ones he was in charge of now, he needed all past records.

By the time he was finished, eight of the twelve filing cabinets were empty, along with the top drawer of the ninth.

And two files from the second drawer.

Sitwell had to go get a few more boxes and have some poor junior agents who wouldn't last the month, most likely (Phil was rarely wrong), had to carry them all after they were sealed shut, with retina scans, and what could be a spot to put a bloody fingerprint (it was) needed to open them back up, their only decoration the careful labels that only Phil understood (he sorted them by Avenger, but Sitwell didn't know that) down to the waiting car Phil would drive to the Avengers' Tower.

He then began to pack up everything that wasn't needed for such security.

Natasha's books that she left here when she needed to unwind.

The Secret Stash of Secret Sheets (which was more then just sheets; Phil was a marvelous quilter and had made quilts for everyone who he ever had for Secret Santa, even Tony, but only Natasha and Clint could piece it together, because in SHIELD, you didn't say a word if they couldn't guess, along with just quilting to keep up the practice) was next and Sitwell muttered about how "Romanov and Clint are always nice to give you the Secret Quilter's quilts to store" and Phil doesn't correct him.

Only Clint and Tasha know his ability to quilt (though he is sure it will be all over SHIELD the minute _any_  of the Avengers find out so, there is _that_  brightside to leaving his wonderful little office that he can lock anyone but Clint and Tasha out of) and he wants to keep it that way.

He's going to be quilting a lot and he doesn't want anyone to connect his quilting to his stress levels, except the mentioned parties.

Phil realizes he's been doing too much paperwork when he thinks in Paperwork Terms (that one is Tasha's).

He continues to fold and pack, the boxes leaving as quickly as they are filled and he begins to look through the desk. He gives Sitwell the bottle of scotch he has there, unopened, as thanks (he put it there the day he learned he was going to be moving, with the intention to give it to Sitwell anyway and the fact he was there just made it easier). Phil packed up any office supplies that were his (the purple pen Clint gave him for his birthday one year, the lamp that looked like a giant flower that Tasha gave him for his birthday the same year, and various other supplies that have a special meaning; the paperweight he used to escape from hostiles, the blood stain never really did get off, and the dart gun that Clint had used to make one very irritating junior agent have a psychological breakdown, and the pocketwatch that Tasha had stolen back after it had gotten stolen by the same irritating junior agent before it could ever be catalogued as his in the psych ward of one of SHIELD's hospitals, small things like that, the pad of paper that he used...you get the idea).

And then, he got to the bottom left drawer.

The bottom left drawer was sacred.

Phil didn't let _anyone_  get into that bottom left drawer unless they were Phil himself, Clint, or Tasha.

Sitwell seemed to realize that Phil would removed the drawer and take it with him, covered in his suit jacket (and everyone knew of Phil's truly frightening rage if someone ruined his suits), before he ever lets Sitwell see what is in that drawer.

"I have to go file reports. I'll do a sweep after and anything personal is mine, Coulson," Sitwell states and Phil just nods and focuses on the drawer.

Only when Sitwell has left and the door is closed, the lock engaging, does Phil sit down and open the drawer.

Inside is a drawer of knick-knacks.

He reaches in, over the tops of all of them and grasps the first one.

A waving, white, cat with a painted face is sitting in his hand and Phil traces it.

It was from their first solo mission together, just him and Clint in Japan, tracking some unsavory characters.

It went off without a hitch, they were able to get out with the previously arranged tickets a week after everything wrapped up. Phil had his reports written and was relaxing about a day after it when he noted that Clint had stepped out six hours ago and hadn't come back.

Phil would only admit it to himself, but he had panicked. He ran out, locking the hotel behind him, and began to search for Clint.

He found him half an hour later in a tourist shop, trying to decide which Waving Cat he should get.

Phil would never admit that he let the relief that Clint was fine, okay, perfect, show on his face, but it was what had started their bond.

"You were worried?" Clint asks, so surprised it makes Phil _ache_.

"Yes," Phil had answered, without hesitation.

The white waving cat on his desk two weeks after they returned and Phil carefully making using the small, useless, quilt to line that bottom drawer before he put it in there, told Phil that it was a piece offering.

He had Clint's bow upgraded within the same two week perameter of getting the cat.

It was the start of a tradition.

Phil didn't glance up as he heard the soft thump of someone landing in his office, even as he placed the cat on the desk that was no longer his, pulling out a small, crank-wind, music box next; wooden, with a sunflower carving on the top.

It played 'Here Comes the Sun' and Phil had no idea where Clint had gotten it from.

"I see you're mostly packed and moved already, sir," Clint greeted as he sat down next to Phil, not reaching into the drawer.

Phil smiled and gently nudged Clint with his elbow before he settled the music box on the desk before he reached in for the snowglobe that had a prancing horse in it.

Phil wondered how he had missed Clint courting him before deciding that it was because he hadn't wanted to see it, too terrified of what would happen to Clint if anything should go wrong.

"Yes. Fury sent Sitwell down to insure that I couldn't use the excuse 'I left something behind' to keep the office open and unoccupied till he moved me back out of annoyance," Phil answered, settling the small snowglobe next to the crank-wind music box.

His fingers didn't stutter over the keychain.

It was the first Clint gave him after Phil had been captured by the enemy.

That time, he had been captured and tortured for about a week before SHIELD managed to extract him. He had already been released (psych could only hold him so long as medical would) and it was too far over Clint's Clearance Level that he didn't know.

Phil could never tell Clint how much that key chain had helped him through very bad nights before it made its way into the drawer with the rest.

"Why did you do that, sir?" Clint asked and Phil looked over at him, even as the keychain settled next to the prancing horse snowglobe.

"Do what, Clnit?" he asked softly, already turning to face his archer.

His hand rested on Clint's knee and Clint looked up. "Keep them in a drawer. I know you liked them. I've seen what you do to presents you don't like; you keep them long enough and then you get rid of them before anyone realizes you never liked them," Clint answered and Phil leaned forward, kissing him gently.

"I keep them in a drawer so no one breaks them. I have had a few agents who would have tossed my flower lamp if I didn't casually mention that it was from Tasha. I've had to pick up files when agents get over-stressed. Or if the building gets attacked. I _never_  want to walk up to you and say that one of your gifts broke, knowing that we can never replace the memory attatched to it, even if we got a new one. It would be weighted differently and I would always remember how the first one broke and then it wouldn't be one of your gifts to me that brigthen my day whenever I pull them out to make sure they are dust free or just to admire the thought that went into them, or stare at them and kick myself for not realizing sooner we could have had _this_  for years if I hadn't been so stubborn," Phil answered softly, honestly, once they had parted.

With each word, Clint seemed to brighten like a sunflower.

Phil had always loved sunflowers.

As was evidenced in just about every gift _after_  Phil had accidentally let it slip when they had been at a safehouse with field of sunflowers next to it.

Huh.

Maybe that's where he got the music box from.

Phil's thought process is interupted by Clint surging forward and pulling him into a kiss that Phil was sure would set him on fire.

They don't finish packing his knick-knack box for another hour.


	2. Clint's POV

Clint had never been to Japan before Phil had dragged him there.

So, when everything went great (better then great, early even), he decided that he should wander off and get something to say 'Hey World, I went to Japan and it was _awesome_ ', because it was. Phil ('Agent Emotionless Asshole' back then, becasue Coulson was always just flat and dry with Clint and it took him one wayward trip to realize that it wasn't so and to mean it when he says 'sir' to Phil) was writing out reports and so Clint had wandered off. He had seen a touristy area somewhere off the way and he was going to wander.

For about two hours, he took in the sights.

For the next three, he looked for a shop to buy whatever he wanted.

He spent one looking at the knick-knacks in a nice little shop.

And when he was down to deciding between two white waving cats (one with a sunflower on its chest and another traditional), Phil appears. Clint turns to look at him and wonders why Phil looks so...

Relief is evident and Phil's stance, the way he sags (not noticably; to anyone who doesn't know Phil, and even if Clint, at the time, hadn't wanted to know Phil, he did on principle, would they see the small way his shoulders release, the twitch of his head to the side that, to any lesser being, not that Clint thought that _exact_  phrasing at the time, would have been sagging with relief, burying his head into the crook of his arm and trying hard not to cry from relief, though that last one Clint learns later, much later, but he doesn't think on that when he thinks on the waving cat).

"Oh, good. You're here," Phil stated.

"Where else would I be?" Clint answered, confused.

Not that he let that show.

"Well, we did just manage to anger a few people," Phil answered and Clint realized something.

Phil had been worried.

Agent Phillip J. Coulson of SHIELD, the Agent who's classification was so high that the real number was classified, had been worried about Clint.

"You were worried?" Clint had asked, without meaning to.

"Yes," Phil answered, without pause.

Clint got the traditional one, even as he answered, "Sir, we're in Tokyo, not New York. I'm pretty sure we're fine. Ever since I got mugged three months ago, you've been edgy. I should actually say _attempted_  mugging, because, honestly sir, they couldn't touch me with a 39 and a half foot pole."

Phil smiles at that, because Christmas is a month away and Phil gets it and Clint stares at the cat for two weeks before giving it to Phil.

At first, he doesn't understand where Phil put it and is scared that Phil got rid of it, except that he didn't have it on his desk and didn't have an 'oops, an agent knocked it over when setting files down' excuse, so Clint was confused.

After Phil had gone home one day, he had gotten into Phil's office and searched, only to find that the bottom left drawer was now lined with a small quilt.

And nestled in the dead center was the cat.

Clint had stared, giddy all over and beaming widely.

Phil had kept it.

And not just kept it, placed it in a place of honor.

Clint's new bow the next day confused him.

But, when he saw Phil with the sunflowers, and then the mission went awesome, again, he went into town, found the store that sold handmade music boxes and looked for the hand-held, hand-cranked ones.

He found one with a sunflower carved into it and bought it.

It appeared on Phil's desk two months later and joined the Waving Cat.

However, Clint beamed like a kid at Christmas when he heard Phil winding it, the soft plink and plunk of 'Here Comes the Sun' echoing through Phil's office and up to the vent that Clint liked to camp out in whenever he was in the base and Phil was in his office.

It continued, warm and happy.

Clint was ecstatic that each present was added to the drawer.

All of the happy memories of awesome missions that Clint had needed physical evidence of tucked safely away in a drawer at Phil's desk.

They usually get tucked about but five of the...forty-eight at his last count (actually kneeling down and counting every single one in the drawer) never made it straight into the drawer.

The keychain with the sunflower on it and some proverb about the sunflower always pointing to the sun or something, the small bunny he won at a carnival he went to with Tasha (that was, technically, not a mission, but Phil had written it up as one and they had taken the booths by storm, taking every prize and, usually, giving them to kids who got swindled, except a few things, like the small bunny), a nesting doll (sunflower pattern and Clint couldn't resist, even if Tasha had rolled her eyes at him about it), a Rubix cube key chain (that Phil solved in ten seconds flat after a kid messed with it for about four hours), and the howling wolf figurine that he glanced in a shop.

Each of these spent time away from the desk, but usually ended up in the desk drawer within the month (the nesting doll stayed out for a grand total of three months before joining the others, and Clint has never wondered why _these_  items were the ones to get to stay out).

In fact, the only knick-knack to never get into the drawer is the Mardi-Gras mask, mostly because it is an extravagant thing with peacock feathers on it that turned the mask, itself, into a peacock and Clint had beamed when presenting it to Phil at his apartment door.

(Phil had not asked, nor wanted, to know how Clint had gotten into the high security building without alerting anyone who could attempt to throw him out.)

So, when he learns about how Phil is going to have to move, he settles into the vent and watches. Files first, then Natasha's books, and then the Secret Stash of Secret Sheets (and Phil's beautiful quilts). It all goes away until he chases Sitwell up and begins to remove things from the drawer.

And with that, Clint drops in and settles next to him.

He asks because he wants to know Phil's reasons.

It is enough to have him distract Phil for an hour once he learns why Phil keeps all the little knick-knacks (omitting one) safe in his drawer.

Because Clint loves it when Phil thinks like him.


End file.
